Recipient of six national film awards, Padma Shree awardee filmmaker Mani Ratnam is all geared up to showcase his magnum opus epic historical fiction film Ponniyin Selvan in cinemas soon.
Ponniyin Selvan is based on the novel of the same name written by Kalki Krishnamurthy, it explores the fictional early life of one of the greatest kings of India Raja Raj Chola first, who reigns major portion of South India and the Indian Ocean between 985 common era to 1014 common era.
Mani Ratnam’s dream project…
Considering the cult fan following of the novel filmmaker Mani Ratnam planned to adapt the novel earlier in 1990 and then 2000 but it didn’t materialize then owing to financial problems and filming locations.
And after two failed attempts, the legendary director in 2019 with Lyca productions set out to make this upcoming masterpiece which in Ratnam’s eyes is his dream project.
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Budget & Release Date
The Budget of the Ponniyin Selvan is said to be Rs 500 crores, this magnum opus will be released in cinema halls in two parts. The shooting of the first part had been concluded in Sept 2021 and it is scheduled to be released in cinemas on 30th Sep 2022.
The release date has been announced by the makers with the important information that releasing in all five Indian languages Tamil along with its dubbed versions Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada.
Star Cast of Ponniyin Selvan Part 1
Pooniyin Selvan has an ensemble star cast of Indian cinemas onboard:
- Kollywood star Chiyaan Vikram is portraying the elder brother’s role of Arulmozhivaraman as Aditya Karikalan.
- Mohan Ravi playing the titular role of Ponniyin Selvan (Arulmozhivarman),
- Karthi (Vallavaraiyan Vandiyadevan),
- Hindi film actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will be seen portraying queen Nandini of Pazhuvoor,
- Jayaram Subramaniam (Azhawarkadiyan Nambi), Trisha (Kundavai Pirattiyar), Sobhita Dhulipala (Vaanathi),
- Aishwarya Lekshmi (Poonguzhali), Vikram Prabhu (Parthibendra Pallavan), Ashwin Kakumanu (Senthan Amudhan),
- R. Sarathkumar (Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar), R. Prathiban (Chinna Pazhuvettaraiyar),
#PS1 🗡️ In theatres worldwide from 30th Sep ⚔️
Releasing in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada & Malayalam.#PonniyinSelvan #CholasAreComing pic.twitter.com/Ahuvo0VshN
— Lyca Productions (@LycaProductions) September 15, 2022
- Prabhu Ganesan (Perya Vellar Boothi Vikramakesari),
- Prakash Raj will be seen playing Sundara Chola (Parantaka Chola second),
- Other actors Rahman, Aswin Rao, Nizhalgal Ravi, Lal, Vidya Subramanian, Jayachitra, Nassar,
- Kishore is playing the antagonist role Ponniyin Selvan,
- Riyaz Khan, Vinay Kumar, Mohan Raman, Vinodhini Vaidyanathan,
- Master Raghavan (Pandya Prince),
- Makarand Deshpande, Balaji Sakthivel, Vijay Yesudas, Arjun Chidambaram, Babu Antony, and Amzath Khan will be seen playing pivotal roles.
Ponniyin Selvan translates as The son of Ponni in Tamil, it is the ancient name of the river Kaveri. Rajaraja the great was 5 yrs old when mother Kaveri herself saved him from drowning in the river. It is when he got the title Son of Kaveri or Ponniyin Selvan.
Makers
Ponniyin Selvan part 1 is backed by Allirajah Subhaskaran along with Mani under the banner of Lyca Production in association with Madras Talkies.
It was Lyca Production who decided to fund the dream project of Mani Ratnam in 2019, the screenplay is written by Mani Ratnam and Elango Kumaravel, and Dialogues by B.Jeyamohan whose notable works include 2.0, Sarkar, and he is also writing the dialogues of Kamal Haasan starrer much-hyped vigilante action film Indian 2.
Ponniyin Selvan Trailer
A big trailer launch event in Chennai attended by Cine’s giants Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, team of PS1, all languages trailers are available on Youtube now:
Technical Team
On the technical front, Ravi Varman is cranking the camera, A. Sreekar Prasad (8 National Film Awards) is on board for the editing, and the music is given by Padma Bhusan awardee A.R Rahman (6 National films, 2 Oscar, 2 Grammy, a Golden Globe Award).
